Human rights in China

Any activity where personal information such as telephone and digital information interchanges becomes completely integrated with the dictatorship's methods of abusing human rights. It is therefore not acceptable to engage in this kind of business activity if one wants to keep up an image of protecting human rights. The consequence is that dictatorships such as China's should be under a complete boycott in these fields.

Support Democracy Abroad

Google should support democracy. It shouldn't stay in China for the money and allow the government to abuse its own citizens. It should also pull out of China for the safety of Google and Gmail account holders as the Chinese government may try to hack Google to tamper and cause problems.

Google is not a by-stander.

Back in the days when slavery and segregation existed, there were many people who remained neutral at the civil right movements. These people are also known as by-standers. They know what was going on and they knew what was right and what was wrong. But they did not do anything which indirectly suggested their support for the oppositions. On the other hand, Google's action regrading the withdrawal from China demonstrates Google's support toward human rights instead of being a bystander. I strongly believe that Google made the right choice for not remaining silent and supporting every human's right.

Yes, a company as large as Google has the power to affect the world, and should use that power responsibly.

Power comes with responsibility. Google should use that power responsibly. If Google does not withdraw from China over human rights issues and censorship, agreement with those policies is implied. Edward Burke once said, "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing", and I believe that to be true, and it applies in this situation. Google may be a company, but it is made up of a lot of good men and women.

Google should withdraw from China over human rights and censorship concerns.

Google should withdraw from China over human rights and censorship concerns based on the company's position on these issues. While trying to impose Google's values on China would be wrong, protesting China's violations without any follow-up action is more wrong. Profit motivation and morality are not mutually exclusive characteristics of a company. Any company should do the right thing.

Yes, because Google has the power to make a big statement in China by withdrawing itself from business there.

A company with as much global influence as Google could make a big statement by withdrawing their business from China. This business means a lot to China, and to other businesses in other countries of the world. Since companies would lose business revenue from of Google's withdrawal from China, there would be greater incentive for the world as a whole to work towards fixing these human rights and undue censorship concerns in China.

Google should not withdraw from China over human rights and censorship concerns, because if it does, Google will be censoring itself.

Censorship and human rights issues are terrible in China. But those issues are not reason enough for companies such as Google to withdraw from China. On the contrary, Google's presence will show the world that freedom is important, and everybody should pressure China to change its oppressive practices.

Google should terminate service in China because China is against net neutrality.

Google should not have to be subject to Chinese censorship. Google makes so much money providing their service to other countries, it wouldn't touch their margins in the slightest. It's also a good stance for net neutrality, the idea that we shouldn't have censored or throttled Internet. By throttled I mean certain websites loading faster than others.

No government have the right to undermine human rights and censor news against them and Google is right to protest against it.

Recent developments in China reveal that the degree of censorship of news has increased to a large extent. Chinese authorities are blocking all news and information that they consider unwanted and trying to act as the guardian of people who they think to be immature. Though some amount of filtration may be agreed upon, what the Chinese authorities are doing cannot be supported. Arrest and jail of human activists in China is too high. To protest against all these, Google is justified in quitting China even though it is perhaps the largest market for a search engine.

I think Google is sending a message to the Chinese government about freedom of information by withdrawing from China.

One of the best reasons to use Google's search engine is to enable the free exchange of information. Google is sending a message about human rights by withdrawing from China because they are saying that they are not willing to participate in a system that prohibits the free exchange of information. All people have a right to search the internet freely, and it is time that China stops limiting its citizens' right to information.

What about the citizens of China?

Should we punish the Chinese citizens by removing their access to Google or should we allow them access to Google, even though their government requires censure and filtering of the content they can view or read.

In my Western viewpoint and perspective, I would rather the Chinese have some access rather than no access. Don't punish the Chinese people because their government forces companies to censure and restrict their services.

Google censors the American internet right on Google.com

Why should Google withdraw from China when they are guilty of the same censorship right in America? Now a simple google images search fails to return one explicit result, and turning off the safe search filter still wont fetch you any. They are tyrants who are censoring us right in America, then point the finger at the Chinese. Google Inc is full of hypocrites.

No

Google is a corporation whose goal is to do business, they dont have to adhere to moral codes or humanitarian standings because not even national governments do that. If they withdrew it wouldnt accomplish anything since China is still massively on the rise, it is a great business opportunity for Google to invest in China since it is the largest country in the world population wise and it is rapidly modernizing. Google doesnt have to take a moral stance on this issue, and they shouldnt want to since China is a massive opportunity for them to make money

Unless Google also decides to withdraw from United States because of U.S. government injustices and corruption, it would be hypocritical for Google to stop doing business in China.

To object to China's human rights and censorship concerns is hypocritical. Let's clean up our own act first. Let's ponder over the news blackouts during the early stages of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Let's meditate over the ridiculous wage statistics: between 1980 and 2004, manufacturing wages fell 1%, while the income of the top one percent rose 135%. Psychopathic elites want to steal from our earned benefits (Social Security and Medicare) while tarring them as "entitlements." Unemployment remains at awful levels, while stock prices continue their climb. Corporate influence in government, recently aided by a recent Supreme Court decision, is out of control. How about government-approved torture? I could continue but it would be endless.

The U.S. government trades with China, despite human rights and censorship concerns, so a private company is under no obligation to withdraw.

China has a long history of dubious ethical behavior, human rights violations, and censorship laws. The U.S. government ignores these concerns, and trades with China. A private business has less obligation to boycott a country, based on these concerns, than a government does, so Google should run their business in China as they wish.

I disagree that Google should withdraw from China over censorship issues, because I feel they "jumped the gun".

I disagree that Google should withdraw from China over censorship issues. Google should give China a chance to redeem themselves, and to allow them to have Google available to their citizens, if they follow Google's rules, word for word.

Google should not withdraw from China over human rights concerns as it is unlikely to benefit either Google or the campaign for human rights in any way.

The situation regarding the censorship of Google in China is unfortunate, but Google withdrawing from the country will not help either Google or the campaign for human rights. The best thing for Google to do is remain in China and continue to operate as best as possible while continuing to lobby the Chinese government for change. This is the only way Google can help itself and also have any impact on human rights efforts in China.

I disagree; everyone should have access to Google for research.

The debate makes a good point and probably something that will go on for years in China. But I believe that everyone should have access to Google. Keep in mind there are school kids there who probably do online research and Google is one of the best resources for this.

Google Withdrawing from China is not the Right way to protest

Google withdrawing from China is doing more of an inservice to the people whose rights they are trying to protect, cutting off their supply to a reliable search engine. Even though they may not be getting all of the results, but at least they get any at all.

Google should not withdraw from China because it can be a good influence by remaining engaged.

It's better for Google to remain operating in China. By continuing its presence, it can have a positive influence on human rights and censorship even if it has to operate under current limits. If it withdraws, it makes it impossible to be an active player in creating a better future and it rewards advocates of censorship by leaving the arena.